Introductory: This site offers my experiences in Amateur
Radio, and clearly shows what can be accomplished with a really
modest set-up (viz., a 100-watt rig, a tuner, and a bird
cage!). An opportunity for offering your
comments about this presentation (which would be appreciated!) is included.
Beginning & Upgrades: My first involvement in Amateur Radio was back in
1963 when I took a course offered at the local YMCA, which enabled me to pass
the FCC's Novice exam. Before the Novice license expired, I obtained my
General ticket. Subsequently, I upgraded to my present Advanced Class
ticket.
Rigs & Set-ups: My first rig was the Hallicrafters HT40/SX140 combo. Its
crystal-controlled transmit operation was found frustrating, so I added a Globe
VFO to it shortly afterwards, which eliminated the need for crystals. A 15-mtr homebrew dipole, hung
from our basement's rafters and using a length of ordinary lamp cord as a
transmission line, was my first antenna. It performed as if it were a
pipeline to "6-land" (California)! A roof-mounted trap vertical, with a
coax transmission line, later replaced the dipole, but a local windstorm turned
it into a hairpin after only about two months' use! The vertical's loss
of use resulted in my resorting to using an actual bird cage as an antenna,
matched to the rig with a homebrew tuner I built from an article in Electronics Illustrated.

My second rig was the Hallicrafters HT46/SX146 combo, which gave me over 30
years of trouble-free service. With this combo, which offered
either independent or transceive operation, the bird cage continued being used
as my antenna as it worked well enough for me to not only eventually work all 50
states (Delaware, altho next door to my home state, was ultimately worked
as the final(!) state I needed), but it also provided me with numerous DX
(foreign) contacts.

Here's a picture (taken about 1965) of the HT46/SX146 combo, the
bird-cage "antenna", and my homebrew tuner atop the receiver (the RX is next to
the cage). Atop the transmitter are my SWR bridge and field-strength
meter. Put your mouse pointer on the bird-cage!

The solid-pine trestle desk shown in the photo (at the left) is
homebrew, with three full-length drawers (paired with "kick-blocks" to prevent
normal downward tilting when fully extended) and includes an inlaid Formica
writing surface (to avoid grooving over time).

If you'd like to see my QSL-confirmed WORKED ALL STATES list, completed with my first
two rigs, just CLICK HERE. To RETURN to
this site, just click as instructed at the bottom of that page.

In October 1998 I bought my first solid-state rig, and continued
the use of my bird cage as an antenna as I found that its use with the
random-wire antenna-tuner bought with the new rig produced practically flat
SWR's on all bands (160 thru 10 mtrs). I later added an Icom IC-718. The
new rig, bought at the same cost as the rig it replaced, offers many
additional features - VOX, a direct entry keypad, SWR/PWR output displays, and
many user-selectable performance settings. Here's a photo of my present
set-up. The bird cage is about five feet away, and the antenna tuner is
down inside the magazine table.

^ Pointer ^

Do modest set-ups like mine really get out? The
QSL cards shown below should answer that question clearly! They each offer
a "5 by 9" report! Approximate distances from my QTH are shown.

4,500 miles
4,200
miles 3,300 miles
5,100 miles

^ Pointer ^

Amateur Radio develops world-wide
friendships! No other hobby like it! ...
K3WNX

Club Associations: I've enjoyed many years' membership in the South Hills Brass Pounders
& Modulators club (KB3BUE, ex-W3PIQ), serving two consecutive terms as its
president, several years as editor of the club's newsletter, participating in
Field Day activities (see photo below) and Hamfests, and presenting a number of
home-brewed programs (Sideband Inversions; Keys, Bugs, and Keyers; The
Antenna-Less(!) Station; and several others) to take the place of old ARRL
movies which had been the regular presentations. I, additionally, served
as Trustee of the local Cloverleaf YMCA Radio Club (a teen-ager group) some
years ago, which later disbanded after failing to obtain continued sponsorship.

^ Pointer ^

Sideband Inversions: During the period when upgrading was being widely
promoted (late 60's and early 70's) and many of the ham magazines were running
installments on radio theory, I found that their explanations of sideband
inversions were misleading and unreliable. My submission of an item to
QST Magazine on this aspect was published
in its Technical Correspondence section in their June '69 issue. That
little item, itself, produced a note of thanks from a ham in Southeastern Asia,
who said it helped him clear a problem he was having with these
occurrences. Additionally, Wayne Green, publisher of 73 Magazine, invited me to do an article
on this subject after I had informed him of the misleading information his
magazine also offered concerning inversions. My article, The Problem of Inversions, detailing the simple
process by which a desired sideband output frequency is generated, and the
absolute predictability of an inversion, or non-inversion,
occurring in that process (disproving the common belief, and even some
published explanations, that they occur anytime(!) a "difference
frequency" is utilized in the mixing stage), was published in that magazine's
January '72 issue.

Conclusion: If you've pored through all of this, you certainly deserve
relief! So, I'll QRT here and say "73". If you'd like a copy of
this offering, simply click the word "Print" shown in the header above.

Before you depart, though, your comment would be much appreciated! Feel free to
get in touch! Simply CLICK HERE

to do so. If you have any
questions about this presentation, I'll try my best to clear them for you.
The "handle" here is Walt. Have a great day!